Topic：Gender Differences in Noncognitive Skill Developments of Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Time: 11:00-12:30 on Thursday, 16 June 2022
Venue: Conference Room 119, Wenqin Building
Moderator: Dr. Wan Qian
Presenter: Dr. Zhang Jing
Dr. Zhang is a fresh PhD graduate in Quantitative Economics from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and his main research areas are labour economics and development economics.
Abstract：
A majority of schools around the world unprecedentedly closed and shifted to online classes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous studies show the adverse effects of the unexpected school closures on students' cognitive skill developments, while much less is known about the impact on their noncognitive skills. We report the changes in gender differences in noncognitive skills during the pandemic for Chinese elementary school students aged 9-13. We use two datasets that complement each other in design, both containing detailed information regarding students and their home and school environments before and after the pandemic outbreak. We find that compared to boys, girls experienced statistically significant declines in their noncognitive skills. In terms of the underlying mechanisms, we show that girls suffer from higher mental stress during the pandemic, and also receive less social support from classroom peers during the online class period. We find little differential impacts for girls and boys on cognitive skill development as measured by academic performance. Our results suggest that overlooking the noncognitive dimension may lead to serious underestimates of the impact of the pandemic on the development of gender inequality in the long run.